Dr. Robert G. Templin, Jr., President of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), will receive the Earle C. Williams Lifetime Achievement Award from the Northern Virginia Technology Council at NVTC’s Annual Banquet, Dec. 8 at the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner. NVTC is giving the award in recognition of Templin’s exceptional service to NVTC and to the region’s tech industry.

“We are extremely proud of the legacy that Bob Templin has created through Northern Virginia Community College,” said Michael Wooten, Chair of NOVA’s College Board. “He has been a tremendous force that has helped us keep pace with, and stay ahead of, Northern Virginia’s booming technology curve. We will miss his leadership and innovation.”

Templin has been president of Northern Virginia Community College since 2002, and he is set to retire in early 2015. Prior to his appointment at NOVA, Templin was president of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology where he led the effort to create or retain more than 12,000 high-tech jobs, attracted or created more than 225 technology-based companies and increased company sales or new capital investment by more than $500 million.

While at NOVA, Templin has led many initiatives to improve access and increase retention amongst underrepresented populations and to meet a regional worker shortfall in many areas. Recognizing the mutual benefit for students and the community, he also worked hard to create a STEM and healthcare pipeline for the region to address these anticipated shortages.

Among the many accomplishments Templin helped to achieve during his tenure: NOVA graduates with technical associate degrees earn a median salary of $43,000 annually 18 months after graduation, the highest in Virginia. He initiated Virginia’s first statewide community college distance learning network linking 22 community colleges and serving nearly 3,000 students annually; helped spearhead a regional initiative with ten hospitals and five universities to double the number of registered nurses and increase by 50 percent allied health professional and technical graduates in Northern Virginia within five years; helped launch an initiative to increase students entering STEM fields, with more than 40,000 students expected to be engaged in SySTEMic Solutions activities by 2015; and much more.

Recent past recipients of NVTC’s lifetime achievement award were Paul Lombardi, former CEO of Dyncorp (2013) and Alan G. Merton, retired president of George Mason University (2011).

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia. As the largest technology council in the nation, NVTC serves about 1,000 companies and organizations, including businesses from all sectors of the technology industry, service providers, universities, foreign embassies, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Through its member companies, NVTC represents about 300,000 employees in the region.

Northern Virginia Community College is the largest institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia and one of America's largest community colleges. NOVA enrolls more than 75,000 students at its six campuses in Alexandria, Annandale, Loudoun, Manassas, Springfield and Woodbridge, and through the Extended Learning Institute. For more information about NOVA and its programs or services, call 703-323-3000 or visit the College's Web site, www.nvcc.edu.